In
addition to any damages you may award on the __
count, the terms of the contract may entitle the
plaintiff to interest. The contract provides
<insert contract terms re: interest>. If you
find that the contract provided for the award of
interest and that the conditions set forth in the
contract for an award of interest have been met, you
should award interest.

If you
decide that the terms of the contract have been met
for awarding interest, you must compute the amount.
The verdict form you have been given will help you
to do this. First, you should determine the start
date for any award of interest. This is the date
(the money became due and payable / the defendant
breached the contract). The end date is
<probably the date of the verdict>. You must
determine the total number of days. Then you must
divide that total by _________ days [for a year].

[<If
the language is clear on the rate:> The
contract states that the rate of interest is __
percent.]

[<If
the language is not clear:> Using the
instructions I have given you on interpreting
contract language, you should determine the rate of
interest that the parties intended.]

You must
then multiply that percentage rate by the number you
came up with earlier for the total number of days
interest was due divided by _____ days. Finally,
you must multiply that percentage by the total
amount of damages to come up with the amount of
interest.

Notes

Since
some appellate decisions suggest that the jury, not
the court, should calculate the interest, the court
should provide the jury with a verdict form to guide
the jury through that calculation. See, e.g.,
Canton Motorcar Works, Inc. v. DiMartino, 6
Conn. App. 447, 463-64, cert. denied, 200 Conn. 802
(1986).

When
the contract purports to provide for interest, the
court should first determine whether, under the
principles of contract interpretation, the language
is clear as to whether interest should be awarded
and the rate for that interest. If either of these
issues is unclear, the question should go to the
jury.